Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion

Lately I’d noticed that download speeds weren’t what they used to be and I was surprised when after calling technical support at CenturyLink they agreed there might be something wrong with my line. I assumed lots of people call in with that problem and that they were going to ask me to reboot my computer, reboot my modem, or “adjust my Internet Explorer settings”

I was happy to learn from the tech that came that my neighborhood had recently received a faster DSL network and that they were going to put me on it. He also gave me a replacement Actiontec C1000A Modem to replace the trusty Actiontec GT701 I bought off of ebay a few years ago when I dropped Comcast (the huge rip-off that it was) and switched from cable to DSL. My connection download speed dropped from 15mb to 5mb down and while it was noticeably slower I was surprised how functional it was. I could make VOIP calls and work from home just fine without any problems and it was $40 a month less than Comcast.

Once all the dust settled with my new C1000A, my line repaired, and calling customer service and asking if there was any kind of discount I could get–they gave me some kind of long term loyalty customer discount of $10 a month–I’m now getting close to 8mb down and close to 1mb up… all for $10 a month which is “good enough.”

I liked the C1000A because it has built in wireless, has the newer N connection, seemed to have a stronger signal, and four ethernet ports on the back. My hope was to free my DD-WRT router (Linksys WRT-54G) for better wireless coverage elsewhere in the house.

After going crazy for several hours my conclusion is that for whatever reason the C1000A does not act as a full network switch and there is no way that I could find to enable it so that local network traffic could see itself–you know like a regular router or switch? In other words, all the devices connected to it could not communicate with each other: separate machines over ssh, networked printer, etc. I cannot imagine why you would build a wireless router this way for home use in today’s day in age.

Please post in the comments if you’ve found a way around this or a way to make it work.

Transparent Bridging and Your Existing Wireless Router is the Answer

If you want to run your own internal network and configure it to your liking it’s really not that hard.

I’ve been running this setup for a few years and it works on the Actiontec C1000A just as well as it did on the Actiontec GT701. In order for it to work your router must be able to a WAN connection type of PPPoE. This moves the DSL login and DHCP address request from your modem to your router.

1) Collect your DSL connection credentials–username and password and have them handy

2) Log into your DSL modem and set the DHCP connection to “Transparent Bridge” mode. By setting the modem for “Transparent Bridge” you’re leaving it to your router, and not the modem, to do the DSL logging in part.

3) Connect an ethernet cable to any port on the Actiontec C1000A to the “internet” port of your Router.

4) Log into your router and set the WAN connection to PPPoE.

5) Enter your DSL user name and password to the router.

6) Save and reboot (if necessary).

Now your router should be able to get it’s own address and login into DSL (instead of the C1000A performing these actions). I also logged back into the Actiontec C1000A and disabled the wireless so that the DSL modem wasn’t remotely accessible. If I need to configure it again, I’ll connect to it with an ethernet cable.

Update (March 16, 2014): I have found on several occasions when the C1000A loses power that the DSL connection resumes faster by powering the router (in my case a Linksys WRT 54GL running DD-WRT) on first, waiting a little bit and then the C1000A–why I have no idea. I’ve found if both the router and C1000A are powered up and connection still hasn’t been made, power cycling the C1000A often magically gets the connection to work again.

Update (May 28, 2015): I have abandoned this setup all together. Even though I live in a metropolitan area CenturyLink could not provide faster service to my house (0.80 mb upload wasn’t cutting it!) so I’ve switched to a different internet provider all together.

John Poelstra

65 Comments

With the C1000A set to transparent bridge mode, has anyone tried to use more than one router? I’ve been running a Linksys off the C1000A, and an Apple Extreme router off the Linksys. I tried plugging the Apple in the C1000A but it does not connect while the Linksys is plugged in. Tried rebooting both devices, no luck.

i was having the same issue with the pk5001z on centurylink how i was able to do it was connecting the modem through ethernet not wireless
then set up transparent bridge once the computer got the ip and it was external i need to set up the router i had to clone the mac address of the computers mac address into the router wan port but not the computers wifi mac address the mac address of the pc ethernet card i got this by opening command cmd and typing ipconfig /all and copying the etherenet card mac address into the router

You might have already answered, but I will ask again:
How would you configure the C2000T to run as a repeater, AKA range extender, or wireless access point?

It doesn’t need to run DHCP, it will not run any security (I will manually enter MAC addresses), and will connect to my household gigabit LAN over Ethernet on CAT 5e. My C2000T unit will just be used as a WiFi point and send the traffic through the C2000T’s built in gigabit hub/switch over the LAN to the Main Router (a Linksys), and out to the modem and on to the ISP.

I would love it if it would transfer clients as they crossed range from one AP to another AP by maintaining the same SSID. Newer routers and range extenders can do this, but I don’t know about the C2000T, although it is packed full of technology. Have yet to find a manual on it either.

It would forward traffic to a Linksys, and on to a Cox Cable broadband ISP.
I still have C-Link, and some old routers (C1000A, etc) and just want to re-purpose these to expand a wider filed of connectivity throughout our basement home from front to back and top to bottom ! !

Hi,
I know this post is a few years old but it helped me greatly in resolving a similar issue which I’ll describe in the hopes that it will help others. I had bought a super router — an ASUS RT AC68U (or mine was a “P” but no difference) that worked great on Century Link DSL. When fiber came to my Seattle neighborhood — I upgraded and they installed both an ONT (box for fiber to enternet conversion) and a ZyXel C1100Z router. Roll forward three months and I have an application where I really want to use the ASUS, I put the same PPPoE credentials with no success. Found this site and started down the ‘bridging mode” scenario … turns out, the C1100z provides the necessary VLAN parameters that the CL CO requires for handshake .. thankfully, there is an option to put the C1100Z in bridging mode that INCLUDES setting the VLAN parameter (note: for business users only — but I won’t tell if you don’t tell!!) All the PPPoE authentication is handled by the ASUS and the C1100Z just sits like an unmanaged (able) switch just providing VLAN sync. So I have a non VDSL-enabled router (the ASUS) working behind a bridged VDSL router (C1100Z) on Century Link’s fiber GPON network. Killer. Thanks for the guidance here and steering me in the “bridging” direction….

I’m just trying to have my d-link router (that I have in the basement) connecting wireless with the c1000a-d modem. I have assigned a static IP to the router (is not in the range of DHCP configured in the modem), also defined 192.168.0.1 (modem) as a gateway but still not able to make a connection to between the two of them (wireless). If I connect them wire it works and I have internet access. what am I missing, is it possible ? btw, thanks for this great topic.

I have a technicolor c2000t through centurylink for my ISP. I Would like to place my c2000t gateway in bridge mode, so I can use my apple time capsule as my sole router. Do you have a step-by-step procedure to do this?

Hello, I want to use my Linksys WIFI router as the WIFI connection using my C1000a as a DSL modem with the WIFI turned off. Do I need to do the whole “DSL credential login setup” with the Linksys router? Or can I just disable the WIFI on the C1000a and plug my routers WAN/Internet jack into an available ethernet port on the back of the C1000a and have it work that way? Thanks.

If you set the C1000A to bridged mode you have to put the DSL login credentials in the Linksys router.

I don’t see any reason you couldn’t disable wifi on the C1000A and connect the WAN port of the Linksys router to one of the ports on the C1000A… This assumes the Linksys router is set to automatic DHCP. I ran this way for awhile, but similar to other complaints I saw, found that throughput was not as good when running this way with the C1000A.

I suggest if you do not want to do transparent bridging and want to use the modem itself as a router (not recommended as the C1000A’s aren’t very powerful), ask CL to give you a Technicolor C2000T, I was given one after I got switched to a bonded VDSL line (meaning to lines combined into one). The C2000T is far better and can act as a standalone router as well without cutting out or crashing. I personally just use a router behind C2000T which is in transparent bridging mode.

Done,. I now have the 2000T technicolor in bridged mode, and then bought a Zyxel USG 20 as my firewall. Working perfectly, able to open up ports, run https, webcam, website, content filtering, etc. I have had to reboot the 2000t once so far, but it’s been relatively rock solid. just setup OpenDNS and DYNDNS for my website. Now onto new challenge of upgrading the hardware of my server 2012 domain controller which has been running on an old HP pavillion with AMD phenom x4 for 3 years.
slowly rebuilding all of my IT infrastructure. Thanks guys.

FWIW, I have been using an Netgear N600 in place of my C1000a’s WiFi for this same reason. However, as of late, my Netflix streaming has been terrible on the Playstation, so I will be trying the C1000a’s WiFi again. That being said, I’d like to try to use the N600 as a repeater to boost the C1000a’s signal into the other part of my house. (Wouldn’t you know it, the only phone line that works in our house is on the opposite side of nearly everything WiFi.) At this point, I cannot figure out how to properly configure this setup though.

This is what I usually do on the second router that I use to extend the same network:
* Connect an ethernet cable from one of the ports on router #1 to one of the ports on router #2 (NOT the WAN port… just a regular port)
* Give the router #2 a fixed IP address on the same subnet as router #1 (obviously an address that is not in the range of DHCP addresses router #1 is giving out)
* Disable DHCP on router #2 (addresses will still be given out by router #1).
* Set a different wireless ESID on router #2 and keep wireless enabled

And that should just work. I’ve always thought it weird that this type of setup works, but it does.

can anyone walk me through setting the C1000A to an address of 192.168.2.1. I am replacing a cisco ddr 2200 this week. In addition I would like to forward some ports for access internet for my NAS. Do i need to send this device into bridge mode?
if so, how

Hi Iet me ask you can you configure the router first then do the actiontec modem/router combo and turn on the bridging ? Since last time I did this with the actiontec device put it into bridge mode then wanted to go back to pppoe since I did not configure the Asus router and could not get the GUI back up on the actiontec
I have an ASUS1900 router
Thanks
Linda

Yes the actiontec GUI is very flaky I suspect firmware since last time tried to do a hard reset and the actiontec GUI never came up so had to return the actiontec for a new one
This new one seems to be better so what I did tonight was
1. I configured the router ASUS 1900 with PPOE first
2 Then went to the actiontec to set the WAN setting to transparent bridging
3 I did NOT do a reboot on the router or actiontec devices
4 I did Not disable wireless settings to turn wireless radio OFF on the actiontec
5 I still see the actiontec centurylink WAN device coming up in networks
Not sure if I need to do step 4 and how can I make sure all is now flowing to the ASUS router and not actiontec router
All seems to be working but if I had to reboot who knows what the outcome will be
Since the actiontec is so flaky I hesitate to reboot

I am having trouble with my centurylink c1000a. When using it alone the internet connection will intermittently slow, disconnecting any game we are playing and causing long waits for pages to load. I was told by centurylink that the problem was probably related to iphone/ipad usage on the wireless. I explained that it was slow even on the computer connected with ethernet cable. They said the line was good and that my old telephone lines were picking up interference.
I replaced the hardline from where it comes into the house to the c1000a.
Another thing I did was to buy an ASUS rt-68p router.
when I run the router through the c1000a the upload speed goes from 4.5 Mbps down to 1.2 Mbps.
I read this article about bridging the c1000a. When I did, it turned the c1000a into a brick. I called centurylink. The came out and bricked another modem trying to fix the problem! Both could not even be reset. Still looking for resolution. so far Linda sounds like she has the right idea, i am just scared to do it!

When you set “transparent bridging” it disables the built in automatic addressing. In order to get to the GUI again you need to connect a wire to one of the lan ports to a computer and set the IP of you computer manually to 192.168.0.2, the Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and gateway IP to 192.168.0.1. Set DNS to whatever you want like 8.8.8.8

To do the above go to Control Panel-> Network and Internet -> Network Connections -> change adapter settings ->right click on Ethernet -> Click on Properties -> TCP IP4 and click on properties and set the above.

I want to have a 2nd C1000A act as a router, What do I need to do? I went in and set the WAN setting to “Transparent Bridging”. But not sure how or what settings to change after that.
My issue is that I’m hoping this will boost my wireless signal across my house (the 1st C1000A is connected to a phone/DSL jack in a bedroom on the other side of my home). The office I’m using does not have a telephone/DSL jack in it & I typically only get 1 or 2 bars on my devices. Also if I connect wired (10/100)to the office C1000A (2nd one) will I get any faster speed than wireless connection to this 2nd C1000A?
Thanks,
Cliff

I don’t think Transparent Bridge is the right setting you want for what you are looking to do. I’m not sure if two C1000A can be connected to each each other. Give my limited (poor) experience with my own C1000A I would not want to rely on it as a router.

For several years have been using my Century Link C1000A as DSL modem plus wireless router. Now I want to use a recently purchased Linksys WRT54GL broadband router to work with my Centruy Link C1000A modem in transparent bridging mode. Have gone through all the recommended steps.

1. Once the C1000A is in transparent bridge mode it will have no internet connection.
2. You must configure the Linksys WRT54GL to provide your DSL credentials. Once it makes a proper connection with these credentials it will provide the internet connection.

I put my actiontec c1000a into bridge mode to try and set up my airport extreme behind it. Now I cannot connect back to the actiontec to get into the configuration. I have tried hard wiring it to the actiontec and using 192.168.0.1 but with no luck. I have also tried resetting the router with the button on the back and still doesnt work. Any solutions?

I’d probably do a hard reset of the c1000a to return it to it’s original settings and start over. I’ve found the c1000a to be very quirky in terms being able to consistently connect and communicate with it.

I’ve been using a C1000A on CL’s vDSL for a bit over a year. I don’t recall having any problems accessing resources locally (ssh, printer, webcams). My biggest complaint is the lengthy but not flexible firewall config (all other ports!).

I’ve been having problems with my C1000a while it’s in bridge mode. My internet connection isn’t stable. It drops out from time to time and it takes a power cycle to the DSL modem to fix it. Sometimes I can go weeks with no issue and other times I can keep an internet connection for more than 5 minutes at a time.
When I loose connection, my router says it has no IP address from the DLS modem. So, it looks like the DSL modem stops talking to my router.

Any suggestions on where the issue might be? I’ve had two different DSL modems and the problem persists.

I have the same problem it started about 4 or 5 months ago at first it would need a restart several times a day and now it might run for several days at the time. I have added a remote controlled power switch to it so I can push a button to recycle to modem but the problem obviously is with Century link or the firmware in the modem. I have not yet contacted them because all I will get is a support person not knowing how to fix it …

I have had the same problem from day 1 with Actiontec C1000a. We were switched from ADSL to vDSL, by CL. CL has admitted it has line problems, and has switched in multiple line pairs to try to remedy the problem. I need to power cycle the unit several times a day for a period, then it will run without issues for several weeks. It appears that CL is doing something in the central switch, or the line noise causes the circuit to crash and the Actiontec won’t attempt to re-establish without a boot.

Does anybody know how to communicate with the actiontec command line (I think it’s linux) when its in transparent mode to force a reboot? I’d like to program my FreeBSD box, my DD-WRT box or the actiontec itself to monitor the vDSL line and when the line stops (or the public IP address goes away), trigger a reboot of the actiontec box. I think a simple /bin/sh script would work, but I can’t get the actiontec to talk once its in transparent mode.

Hugely helpful post! I’d already figured out how to get it into bridge mode, but wasn’t aware you could still access the GUI with a direct ethernet connection and manual 192.168.0.2 IP. Wonderful to know….

Also, on a Mac, Chrome is annoyingly unable to edit the config. Safari works though, just so you know…

I have my C1000A in bridge mode, but forgot to turn off the wireless more on the modem. I can no longer access it using 192.168.0.1 when using my R7000 router. I believe your method would solve this, just not sure on how to completely implement it.

1) Connect an ethernet cable between your computer and the C1000A
2) Set your computer to a static ip address (something that isn’t 192.168.0.1) like 192.168.0.5 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
3) Open 192.168.0.1 with a web browser (preferably Firefox or Internet Explorer)

Thanks Bob! You are right that is confusing . What I meant to say was that the WAN setting is PPPoE and the local network setting is DHCP. I updated step #4 to be clearer.

As I think about it more, since the DHCP setting is for your local network and I suppose there’s someone out there that might want to run and administer a static network that I should separate that out.

I’m thinking about doing this. Will the C1000a keep its default LAN IP address after you’ve set up bridging so you may log on? Did you set your router with a different subnet or the same as the C1000a but a different IP? Does it make sense what I’m asking?

Technically I don’t think it matters what subnet you give your router, but just to play it safe give it something different from the default network that C1000a usually does which I think was 192.168.0.x. From what I can tell, in transparent bridge mode, the C1000a is simply a pass through to the router and does not get a public address nor deliver a local address the to the router.

In transparent bridge mode the router gets a public address from CenturyLink and then gives local addresses for the local network, assuming you have the router doing local dhcp.

When I want to access the C1000a itself I connect an ethernet cable to it directly, set my computer to a static address on 192.168.0.x and then talk to it that way.

Honestly I’m not exactly how it all works, I just know I saw a post long ago that hinted this was all possible, I connected cables, and guessed at things until they started working. Then I just kept doing it. 🙂 Hope that helps.

At a certain point this stopped working… I could only log into the modem sometimes and once I did things would freeze or disconnect. I ended up hard resetting the modem by pushing the reset button on the back in with a pen (while powered on) and holding it in for 30 seconds or so.

That’s right. After hours with tech support about this I learned that the only browser that will reliably communicate with the C1000A is Internet Explorer. (My browser of choice is Chrome – it also does not work. The best tech I spoke with said there is some extension to Firefox that helps it to work in some cases, but that the only sure deal is IE. sorry.

Thanks for the information. I recently upgraded to CL 40 Mbps service and was hoping to use my Netgear N600 (wndr3400) for the same purposes you are describing here. I haven’t been happy with the wireless strength of the C1000A. However, when I log into the admin utility and look for “transparent bridging” under DHCP I can’t find anything. Do I need to take other steps to unearth that setting like shut of DHCP server and then apply that change for it to show up? Sorry….bit of a novice. Thanks for any help!

Sorry to hear that. One additional problem I did find with this unit is the the Google Chrome browser did not interact well with it. Some parts of the interface wouldn’t load correctly and I couldn’t click on them. Firefox worked much better. Try it?